Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The John Charnley Award: An Accurate and Sensitive Method to Separate, Display, and Characterize Wear Debris: Part 1: Polyethylene Particles

  • Symposium: Papers Presented at the Annual Meetings of The Hip Society
  • Published:
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®

Abstract

Background

Numerous studies indicate highly crosslinked polyethylenes reduce the wear debris volume generated by hip arthroplasty acetabular liners. This, in turns, requires new methods to isolate and characterize them.

Questions/purposes

We describe a method for extracting polyethylene wear particles from bovine serum typically used in wear tests and for characterizing their size, distribution, and morphology.

Methods

Serum proteins were completely digested using an optimized enzymatic digestion method that prevented the loss of the smallest particles and minimized their clumping. Density-gradient ultracentrifugation was designed to remove contaminants and recover the particles without filtration, depositing them directly onto a silicon wafer. This provided uniform distribution of the particles and high contrast against the background, facilitating accurate, automated, morphometric image analysis. The accuracy and precision of the new protocol were assessed by recovering and characterizing particles from wear tests of three types of polyethylene acetabular cups (no crosslinking and 5 Mrads and 7.5 Mrads of gamma irradiation crosslinking).

Results

The new method demonstrated important differences in the particle size distributions and morphologic parameters among the three types of polyethylene that could not be detected using prior isolation methods.

Conclusion

The new protocol overcomes a number of limitations, such as loss of nanometer-sized particles and artifactual clumping, among others.

Clinical Relevance

The analysis of polyethylene wear particles produced in joint simulator wear tests of prosthetic joints is a key tool to identify the wear mechanisms that produce the particles and predict and evaluate their effects on periprosthetic tissues.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3A
Fig. 4
Fig. 5A–B
Fig. 6A–C
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Affatato S, Bersaglia G, Emiliani D, Foltran I, Taddei P, Reggiani M, Ferrieri P, Toni A. The performance of gamma- and EtO-sterilised UHMWPE acetabular cups tested under severe simulator conditions. Part 2. Wear particle characteristics with isolation protocols. Biomaterials. 2003;24:4045–4055.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bajorath J, Hinrichs W, Saenger W. The enzymatic activity of proteinase K is controlled by calcium. Eur J Biochem. 1988;176:441–447.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Baxter RM, Steinbeck MJ, Tipper JL, Parvizi J, Marcolongo M, Kurtz SM. Comparison of periprosthetic tissue digestion methods for ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene wear debris extraction. J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater. 2009;91:409–418.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Besong AA, Tipper JL, Ingham E, Stone MH, Wroblewski BM, Fisher J. Quantitative comparison of wear debris from UHMWPE that has and has not been sterilised by gamma irradiation. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1998;80:340–344.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bitsch RG, Loidolt T, Heisel C, Ball S, Schmalzried TP. Reduction of osteolysis with use of Marathon cross-linked polyethylene: a concise follow-up, at a minimum of five years, of a previous report. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2008;90:1487–1491.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Campbell P, Doorn P, Dorey F, Amstutz HC. Wear and morphology of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene wear particles from total hip replacements. Proc Inst Mech Eng H. 1996;210:167–174.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Campbell P, Kossovsky N, Schmalzried TP. Particles in loose hips. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1993;75:161–162.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Campbell P, Ma S, Yeom B, McKellop H, Schmalzried TP, Amstutz HC. Isolation of predominantly submicron-sized UHMWPE wear particles from periprosthetic tissues. J Biomed Mater Res. 1995;29:127–131.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. D’Lima DD, Hermida JC, Chen PC, Colwell CW. Polyethylene cross-linking by two different methods reduces acetabular liner wear in a hip joint wear simulator. J Orthop Res. 2003;21:761–766.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Dorr LD, Wan Z, Shahrdar C, Sirianni L, Boutary M, Yun A. Clinical performance of a Durasul highly cross-linked polyethylene acetabular liner for total hip arthroplasty at five years. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2005;87:1816–1821.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Endo M, Tipper JL, Barton DC, Stone MH, Ingham E, Fisher J. Comparison of wear, wear debris and functional biological activity of moderately crosslinked and non-crosslinked polyethylenes in hip prostheses. Proc Inst Mech Eng H. 2002;216:111–122.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Endo MM, Barbour PS, Barton DC, Fisher J, Tipper JL, Ingham E, Stone MH. Comparative wear and wear debris under three different counterface conditions of crosslinked and non-crosslinked ultra high molecular weight polyethylene. Biomed Mater Eng. 2001;11:23–35.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Engh CA Jr, Stepniewski AS, Ginn SD, Beykirch SE, Sychterz-Terefenko CJ, Hopper RH Jr, Engh CA. A randomized prospective evaluation of outcomes after total hip arthroplasty using cross-linked Marathon and non-cross-linked Enduron polyethylene liners. J Arthroplasty. 2006;21:17–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Fang HW, Hsu SM, Sengers JV. Surface texture design to generate specific sizes and shapes of UHMWPE wear particles. J Mater Sci Eng Technol. 2003;34:976–988.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Fang HW, Hsu SM, Sengers JV. Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Wear Particle Effects on Bioactivity. NIST SP-1002. Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Firkins PJ, Tipper JL, Ingham E, Stone MH, Farrar R, Fisher J. A novel low wearing differential hardness, ceramic-on-metal hip joint prosthesis. J Biomech. 2001;34:1291–1298.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Fisher J, Bell J, Barbour PS, Tipper JL, Matthews JB, Besong AA, Stone MH, Ingham E. A novel method for the prediction of functional biological activity of polyethylene wear debris. Proc Inst Mech Eng H. 2001;215:127–132.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Fisher J, McEwen HM, Tipper JL, Galvin AL, Ingram J, Kamali A, Stone MH, Ingham E. Wear, debris, and biologic activity of cross-linked polyethylene in the knee: benefits and potential concerns. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2004;428:114–119.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Geerdink C, Grimm B, Vencken W, Heyligers I, Tonino A. Cross-linked compared with historical polyethylene in THA: an 8-year clinical study. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2009;467:979–984.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Geerdink CH, Grimm B, Ramakrishnan R, Rondhuis J, Verburg AJ, Tonino AJ. Crosslinked polyethylene compared to conventional polyethylene in total hip replacement: pre-clinical evaluation, in-vitro testing and prospective clinical follow-up study. Acta Orthop. 2006;77:719–725.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Green TR, Fisher J, Matthews JB, Stone MH, Ingham E. Effect of size and dose on bone resorption activity of macrophages by in vitro clinically relevant ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene particles. J Biomed Mater Res. 2000;53:490–497.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Green TR, Fisher J, Stone M, Wroblewski BM, Ingham E. Polyethylene particles of a “critical size” are necessary for the induction of cytokines by macrophages in vitro. Biomaterials. 1998;19:2297–2302.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Hilz H, Wiegers U, Adamietz P. Stimulation of proteinase K action by denaturing agents: application to the isolation of nucleic acids and the degradation of “masked” proteins. Eur J Biochem. 1975;56:103–108.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Huang CH, Ho FY, Ma HM, Yang CT, Liau JJ, Kao HC, Young TH, Cheng CK. Particle size and morphology of UHMWPE wear debris in failed total knee arthroplasties—a comparison between mobile bearing and fixed bearing knees. J Orthop Res. 2002;20:1038–1041.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Illgen RL 2nd, Bauer LM, Hotujec BT, Kolpin SE, Bakhtiar A, Forsythe TM. Highly crosslinked vs conventional polyethylene particles: relative in vivo inflammatory response. J Arthroplasty. 2009;24:117–124.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Ingram J, Matthews JB, Tipper J, Stone M, Fisher J, Ingham E. Comparison of the biological activity of grade GUR 1120 and GUR 415HP UHMWPE wear debris. Biomed Mater Eng. 2002;12:177–188.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Jacobs CA, Christensen CP, Greenwald AS, McKellop H. Clinical performance of highly cross-linked polyethylenes in total hip arthroplasty. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2007;89:2779–2786.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Leung SB, Egawa H, Stepniewski A, Beykirch S, Engh CA Jr, Engh CA Sr. Incidence and volume of pelvic osteolysis at early follow-up with highly cross-linked and noncross-linked polyethylene. J Arthroplasty. 2007;22:134–139.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Liao YS, Benya PD, McKellop HA. Effect of protein lubrication on the wear properties of materials for prosthetic joints. J Biomed Mater Res. 1999;48:465–473.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Looney RJ, Schwarz EM, Boyd A, O’Keefe RJ. Periprosthetic osteolysis: an immunologist’s update. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2006;18:80–87.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Mabrey JD, Afsar-Keshmiri A, Engh GA, Sychterz CJ, Wirth MA, Rockwood CA, Agrawal CM. Standardized analysis of UHMWPE wear particles from failed total joint arthroplasties. J Biomed Mater Res. 2002;63:475–483.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Manning DW, Chiang PP, Martell JM, Galante JO, Harris WH. In vivo comparative wear study of traditional and highly cross-linked polyethylene in total hip arthroplasty. J Arthroplasty. 2005;20:880–886.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Matthews JB, Besong AA, Green TR, Stone MH, Wroblewski BM, Fisher J, Ingham E. Evaluation of the response of primary human peripheral blood mononuclear phagocytes to challenge with in vitro generated clinically relevant UHMWPE particles of known size and dose. J Biomed Mater Res. 2000;52:296–307.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. McKellop H, Clarke I, Markolf K, Amstutz H. Friction and wear properties of polymer, metal, and ceramic prosthetic joint materials evaluated on a multichannel screening device. J Biomed Mater Res. 1981;15:619–653.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. McKellop HA, Campbell P, Park SH, Schmalzried TP, Grigoris P, Amstutz HC, Sarmiento A. The origin of submicron polyethylene wear debris in total hip arthroplasty. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1995;311:3–20.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Mitchell W, Bridget Matthews J, Stone MH, Fisher J, Ingham E. Comparison of the response of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells to challenge with particles of three bone cements in vitro. Biomaterials. 2003;24:737–748.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Muratoglu OK, Bragdon CR, O’Connor DO, Jasty M, Harris WH. A novel method of cross-linking ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene to improve wear, reduce oxidation, and retain mechanical properties. Recipient of the 1999 HAP Paul Award. J Arthroplasty. 2001;16:149–160.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Niedzwiecki S, Klapperich C, Short J, Jani S, Ries M, Pruitt L. Comparison of three joint simulator wear debris isolation techniques: acid digestion, base digestion, and enzyme cleavage. J Biomed Mater Res. 2001;56:245–249.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Rajadhyaksha AD, Brotea C, Cheung Y, Kuhn C, Ramakrishnan R, Zelicof SB. Five-year comparative study of highly cross-linked (Crossfire) and traditional polyethylene. J Arthroplasty. 2009;24:161–167.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Richards L, Brown C, Stone MH, Fisher J, Ingham E, Tipper JL. Identification of nanometre-sized ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene wear particles in samples retrieved in vivo. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2008;90:1106–1113.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Ries MD, Scott ML, Jani S. Relationship between gravimetric wear and particle generation in hip simulators: conventional compared with cross-linked polyethylene. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2001;83(Suppl 2 Pt 2): S116–S122.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Saikko V, Calonius O, Keranen J. Wear of conventional and cross-linked ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene acetabular cups against polished and roughened CoCr femoral heads in a biaxial hip simulator. J Biomed Mater Res. 2002;63:848–853.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Schmalzried TP, Campbell P, Schmitt AK, Brown IC, Amstutz HC. Shapes and dimensional characteristics of polyethylene wear particles generated in vivo by total knee replacements compared to total hip replacements. J Biomed Mater Res. 1997;38:203–210.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Shanbhag AS, Jacobs JJ, Black J, Galante JO, Glant TT. Macrophage/particle interactions: effect of size, composition and surface area. J Biomed Mater Res. 1994;28:81–90.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Shanbhag AS, Jacobs JJ, Black J, Galante JO, Glant TT. Human monocyte response to particulate biomaterials generated in vivo and in vitro. J Orthop Res. 1995;13:792–801.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Shanbhag AS, Jacobs JJ, Glant TT, Gilbert JL, Black J, Galante JO. Composition and morphology of wear debris in failed uncemented total hip replacement. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1994;76:60–67.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Tipper JL, Galvin AL, Williams S, McEwen HM, Stone MH, Ingham E, Fisher J. Isolation and characterization of UHMWPE wear particles down to ten nanometers in size from in vitro hip and knee joint simulators. J Biomed Mater Res A. 2006;78:473–480.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Wang A, Essner A, Stark C, Dumbleton JH. Comparison of the size and morphology of UHMWPE wear debris produced by a hip joint simulator under serum and water lubricated conditions. Biomaterials. 1996;17:865–871.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Yang SY, Ren W, Park Y, Sieving A, Hsu S, Nasser S, Wooley PH. Diverse cellular and apoptotic responses to variant shapes of UHMWPE particles in a murine model of inflammation. Biomaterials. 2002;23:3535–3543.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Patricia Campbell, PhD, for her pioneering research on the isolation and characterization of PE wear debris, and Zhen Lu, PhD, and Fu-Wen Shen, PhD, for their valuable insight into the wear mechanisms and material properties of UHMWPE.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The J. Vernon Luck Sr., MD, Orthopaedic Research Center at Orthopaedic Hospital, UCLA/Orthopaedic Hospital, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, 90007, USA

    Fabrizio Billi PhD, Paul Benya PhD, Aaron Kavanaugh BS, John Adams MD, PhD, Edward Ebramzadeh PhD & Harry McKellop PhD

Authors
  1. Fabrizio Billi PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Paul Benya PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Aaron Kavanaugh BS
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. John Adams MD, PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Edward Ebramzadeh PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Harry McKellop PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabrizio Billi PhD.

Additional information

One or more of the authors has received funding from NIH/NIAMS (FB, PB, JA), Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc (Minneapolis, MN, USA) (FB, EE), Wright Medical Technology, Inc (Arlington, TN, USA) (FB), DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc (Warsaw, IN, USA) (FB, HM), Stryker Orthopaedics (Mahwah, NJ, USA) (FB), and Biomet, Inc (Warsaw, IN, USA) (FB). One or more of the authors (HM) has received royalties from DePuy.

Each author certifies that his or her institution approved or waived approval for the reporting of this investigation and that all investigations were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research.

This is a companion article to Billi F, Benya P, Kavanaugh A, Adams J, PhD, McKellop H, Ebramzadeh E. The John Charnley Award. An Accurate and Extremely Sensitive Method to Separate, Display, and Characterize Wear Debris. Part 2: Metal and Ceramic Particles. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2011. DOI 10.1007/s11999-011-2058-9

Electronic supplementary material

About this article

Cite this article

Billi, F., Benya, P., Kavanaugh, A. et al. The John Charnley Award: An Accurate and Sensitive Method to Separate, Display, and Characterize Wear Debris: Part 1: Polyethylene Particles. Clin Orthop Relat Res 470, 329–338 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-011-2057-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-011-2057-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation